Rush Probst hired

[Neutral Corner]

...to coach at Pell City HS, half an hour east of Birmingham. Unless they have moved this is where his second family lives.

They're also hiring a new Athletic Director who is a known straight arrow, no doubt to try to keep a leash on Probst. We'll see how that works out, heh. Note that there's not a lot of focus on Probst here.

You need to click through to see all the copy.

 

[HanSenSE]

He beat the rap in Valdosta?

 

[hondo]

Rush Probst is the Donald Trump of high school football coaches. He could kill someone at the 50 yard line or grab a female assistant principal by the P**** and still get a job somewhere.

 

[LanceyHoward]

If Rush Probst became the coach at the high school your kids were going to attend would you transfer districts? I would.

 

[tapintoamerica]

This quote, from the superintendent, struck me.

“When coach Propst’s name came up, I realize some people may think negatively about it, but you have to look at what someone can do for your school and your community. Our focus is on where we want to go as a program and as a school. I feel coach Propst is the best in the business to get us where we need to be.”

This is a public high school we're talking about. Not a tuition-dependent private school. Not a college, which uses sports in part as a fund-raising and engagement tool for the institution as a whole.
Yet here's the superintendent openly saying one of his high schools needs to win football games. Is this such a big revenue-generator for the community at large? Or is this simply a case of college-level competitive obsessions trickling down a level?

 

[User 149557]

Is this such a big revenue-generator for the community at large? Or is this simply a case of college-level competitive obsessions trickling down a level?

I wondered this myself when covering a football-obsessed mid-sized program in Ohio. The AD, off the record, told me what a winning program meant in terms of dollars and it more than paid for the coach’s salary, the school giving the coach’s son a cushy position in the district and bankrolled the entire athletic department. Donations from businesses flowed from fielding a playoff team. The 50-50’s (which could reach $10,000-$15,000 per game) and parking passes alone yielded thousands per game. I can only imagine what it means in an even bigger district and town.

 

[dixiehack]

Pell City is traditionally terrible in football. A former coach was run off after blaming the demographics of the district (sort of the backup choice of outer white flight suburbs) for their history of futility.

But if people perceive that the right coach and infrastructure is in place, they’ll move Johnny Five Star to that district and the AHSAA only catches the ones most hapless at covering tracks. Thompson High in Alabaster went from an afterthought to four consecutive state titles and replaced Hoover as the king **** school with all the recruits after paying big to get a proven coach from down near the beaches. The city of Alabaster puts money into the team as a form of economic development and I’d expect Pell City has the same thought.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

Rush Probst is the Donald Trump of high school football coaches. He could kill someone at the 50 yard line or grab a female assistant principal by the P**** and still get a job somewhere.

Alright Alvin Bragg...time for you to go on offense.